Lucasta [51]
TO MY LADY H. ODE.
I. Tell me, ye subtill judges in loves treasury, Inform me, which hath most inricht mine eye, This diamonds greatnes, or its clarity?
II. Ye cloudy spark lights, whose vast multitude Of fires are harder to be found then view'd, Waite on this star in her first magnitude.
III. Calmely or roughly! Ah, she shines too much; That now I lye (her influence is such), Chrusht with too strong a hand, or soft a touch.
IV. Lovers, beware! a certaine, double harme Waits your proud hopes, her looks al-killing charm Guarded by her as true victorious arme.
V. Thus with her eyes brave Tamyris spake dread, Which when the kings dull breast not entered, Finding she could not looke, she strook him dead.
<55.1> This word, though generally used in a bad sense by early writers, does not seem to bear in the present case any offensive meaning. The late editors of Nares quote a passage from one of Cowley's ESSAYS, in which that writer seems to imply by the term merely a fine woman.
<> Since the note at p. 133 was written, the following description by Aubrey (LIVES, &c., ii. 332), of a picture of the Lady Venetia Digby has fallen under my notice. "Also, at Mr. Rose's, a jeweller in Henrietta Street, in Covent Garden, is an excellent piece of hers, drawne after she was newly dead. She had a most lovely sweet-turned face, delicate darke browne haire. She had a perfect healthy constitution; strong; good skin; well-proportioned; inclining to a BONA-ROBA."
I. I cannot tell, who loves the skeleton Of a poor marmoset; nought but boan, boan; Give me a nakednesse, with her cloath's on.
II. Such, whose white-sattin upper coat of skin, Cut upon velvet rich incarnadin,<56.1> Has yet a body (and of flesh) within.
III. Sure, it is meant good husbandry<56.2> in men, Who do incorporate with aery leane, T' repair their sides, and get their ribb agen.
IV. Hard hap unto that huntsman, that decrees Fat joys for all his swet, when as he sees, After his 'say,<56.3> nought but his keepers fees.
V. Then, Love, I beg, when next thou tak'st thy bow, Thy angry shafts, and dost heart-chasing go, Passe RASCALL DEARE, strike me the largest doe.<56.4>
<56.1> i.e. Carnation hue, a species of red. As an adjective, the word is peculiarly rare.
<56.2> Management or economy.
<56.3> i.e. Essay.
<56.4> A RASCAL DEER was formerly a well-known term among sportsmen, signifying a lean beast, not worth pursuit. Thus in A C. MERY TALYS (1525), No. 29, we find:--"[they] apoynted thys Welchman to stand still, and forbade him in any wyse to shote at no rascal dere, but to make sure of the greate male, and spare not." In the new edition of Nares, other and more recent examples of the employment of the term are given. But in the BOOK OF SAINT ALBANS, 1486, RASCAL is used in the signification merely of a beast other than one of "enchace."
"And where that ye come in playne or in place, I shall you tell whyche ben bestys of enchace. One of them is the bucke: a nother is the doo: The foxe and the marteron: and the wylde roo. And ye shall, my dere chylde, other bestys all, Where so ye theym finde, Rascall ye shall them call."
A LA BOURBON. DONE MOY PLUS DE PITIE OU<57.1> PLUS DE CREAULTE, CAR SANS CI IE NE PUIS PAS VIURE, NE MORIR.
I. Divine Destroyer, pitty me no more, Or else more pitty me;<57.2> Give me more love, ah, quickly give me more, Or else more cruelty! For left thus as I am, My heart is ice and flame; And languishing thus, I Can neither live nor dye!
II. Your glories are eclipst, and hidden in the grave Of this indifferency; And, Caelia, you can neither altars have, Nor I, a Diety: They are aspects divine, That
I. Tell me, ye subtill judges in loves treasury, Inform me, which hath most inricht mine eye, This diamonds greatnes, or its clarity?
II. Ye cloudy spark lights, whose vast multitude Of fires are harder to be found then view'd, Waite on this star in her first magnitude.
III. Calmely or roughly! Ah, she shines too much; That now I lye (her influence is such), Chrusht with too strong a hand, or soft a touch.
IV. Lovers, beware! a certaine, double harme Waits your proud hopes, her looks al-killing charm Guarded by her as true victorious arme.
V. Thus with her eyes brave Tamyris spake dread, Which when the kings dull breast not entered, Finding she could not looke, she strook him dead.
<55.1> This word, though generally used in a bad sense by early writers, does not seem to bear in the present case any offensive meaning. The late editors of Nares quote a passage from one of Cowley's ESSAYS, in which that writer seems to imply by the term merely a fine woman.
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I. I cannot tell, who loves the skeleton Of a poor marmoset; nought but boan, boan; Give me a nakednesse, with her cloath's on.
II. Such, whose white-sattin upper coat of skin, Cut upon velvet rich incarnadin,<56.1> Has yet a body (and of flesh) within.
III. Sure, it is meant good husbandry<56.2> in men, Who do incorporate with aery leane, T' repair their sides, and get their ribb agen.
IV. Hard hap unto that huntsman, that decrees Fat joys for all his swet, when as he sees, After his 'say,<56.3> nought but his keepers fees.
V. Then, Love, I beg, when next thou tak'st thy bow, Thy angry shafts, and dost heart-chasing go, Passe RASCALL DEARE, strike me the largest doe.<56.4>
<56.1> i.e. Carnation hue, a species of red. As an adjective, the word is peculiarly rare.
<56.2> Management or economy.
<56.3> i.e. Essay.
<56.4> A RASCAL DEER was formerly a well-known term among sportsmen, signifying a lean beast, not worth pursuit. Thus in A C. MERY TALYS (1525), No. 29, we find:--"[they] apoynted thys Welchman to stand still, and forbade him in any wyse to shote at no rascal dere, but to make sure of the greate male, and spare not." In the new edition of Nares, other and more recent examples of the employment of the term are given. But in the BOOK OF SAINT ALBANS, 1486, RASCAL is used in the signification merely of a beast other than one of "enchace."
"And where that ye come in playne or in place, I shall you tell whyche ben bestys of enchace. One of them is the bucke: a nother is the doo: The foxe and the marteron: and the wylde roo. And ye shall, my dere chylde, other bestys all, Where so ye theym finde, Rascall ye shall them call."
A LA BOURBON. DONE MOY PLUS DE PITIE OU<57.1> PLUS DE CREAULTE, CAR SANS CI IE NE PUIS PAS VIURE, NE MORIR.
I. Divine Destroyer, pitty me no more, Or else more pitty me;<57.2> Give me more love, ah, quickly give me more, Or else more cruelty! For left thus as I am, My heart is ice and flame; And languishing thus, I Can neither live nor dye!
II. Your glories are eclipst, and hidden in the grave Of this indifferency; And, Caelia, you can neither altars have, Nor I, a Diety: They are aspects divine, That